Afghanistan’s State Ministry for Disaster Management has announced that due to the “harsh winter” more than 166 people have died across the country so far.
Rahman Zahid, a disaster management authority in a video said that 168 individuals have died due to extreme weather conditions and gassing in 24 provinces of the country.
Mr. Zahid added that hundreds of houses have collapsed and nearly 80,000 livestock has died across the country, leaving server economic impacts on the living conditions of vulnerable families.
In the meantime, the weather forecast authorities have warned of possible snowfall in at least 19 provinces in the coming days, which will further complicate the living conditions of the people who are in dire need of humanitarian support.
The country’s weather forecast bureau on Saturday announced there will be heavy snowfalls in the coming days in provinces including, Badakhshan, Nuristan, Kunar, Nangarhar, Laghman, Kapisa, Panjshir, Parwan, Kabul, Logar, Paktika, Zabul, Ghazni, Maidan Wardak, Bamyan, Daikundi and Ghor.
Meanwhile, humanitarian aid organizations had warned of the consequences of the harsh winter, 50 percent of Afghanistan’s 38 million population is in dire need of aid and winterization support. It is also stated that nearly four million children suffer from serious malnutrition in the country.
Amid the humanitarian crisis, the harsh winter is a new addition to the problems of the Afghan people. With gender-based bans restricting women employees from working with non-governmental aid organizations have interrupted the distribution of aid to needy families across the country during these difficult times.
Instead of easing the situation for women employees of NGOs, the de facto government of Afghanistan issued a new decree banning female students from taking the university entrance exam (Kankor) in all private and public universities of this year.
This will further isolate Afghan women and girls from public life, with possible ramifications on the distribution of aid and engagement with the ruling regime.
